5 Reasons Why Diversity Plans Fail

What causes systemic bias

An HR professional whose company was renegotiating an employment contract with a highly valuable black executive recently asked whether to give the executive the significant raise he was asking for “just because this person is black.” I asked whether they had a history of giving similar increases to white employees. A quick review showed that, in fact, many white employees had received salary bumps that were equal to or greater than the amount the executive had requested.

This conversation is not unusual. It illustrates what many organizations share in common and what often stands in the way of their efforts to operationalize diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) goals: systemic bias that is only visible to and experienced by minority or diverse employees. Well-entrenched and embedded in an organization’s norms, practices, and policies, systemic bias can hamper or derail an organization’s DEI initiatives. So if systemic bias is the problem, what enables it to set in? And, what prevents its resolution?

While there are numerous factors that can thwart DEI plans from fruition, the following are the most common and most complex:

Creating an equitable and inclusive work environment is change management. Like any other business priority, especially one that will prompt significant change, it begins with senior leadership articulating a clear vision and sense of urgency and priority. But with most C-suites lacking diversity, leaders are reluctant to discuss these issues publicly. Instead, they rely on HR and diversity professionals, who have little authority to make sweeping, systemic changes.

The absence of a leader driving needed change results in a leadership vacuum, with well-intentioned professionals looking around and waiting for someone to flip the switch. It takes senior-level leaders across the organization to align and evaluate systems, make new policies, and shift the culture towards inclusion. If C-suite and division leaders can’t discuss the vision and strategy for diversity and inclusion in the organization, progress will be challenging, if not impossible.

Discussing race can make everyone uncomfortable. Diverse employees may feel exhausted after being asked to share their feelings and perspectives during and following the racial justice movement of 2020. White employees are often afraid they’ll say the wrong thing. As a result, crucial conversations that could otherwise lead to better understanding end up being shelved.

Shifting a culture towards inclusion requires a safe space for employees to express themselves. Invariably, mistakes will happen—people will say the wrong things and trigger one another. Making progress on race in the workplace is messy work and can scare employees from engaging.

Leaders often know little to nothing about the impact of unconscious bias on the daily lives of employees of color. Systemic racism is insidious, ingrained in cultures, policies, and norms, and independent of the intentions of those who participate in it. Many of these leaders become defensive when discussing DEI, often referring to their good intentions, unaware that well-meaning people can unwittingly participate in a system that has racist outcomes.

The typical DEI initiative focuses on the recruitment and retention of employees of color, while ignoring the role of white privilege in corporate culture. If the goal is equity in the workplace, it’s important to have one set of clear, transparent rules, and to note when exceptions were made for certain employees. After taking a harder look at the language in performance reviews, a department manager recently noted that they found expressions, such as “she’s a rock star,” attributed to white professionals with few details on the actual performance that merited the praise.

Allowing vague euphemisms to stand in for clear, transparent performance criteria and detailed, constructive feedback will only help bias seep into—or remain unchecked within--the system.

Many companies cite a strong corporate culture as one of the keys to their success. While a strong culture can be a strategic advantage, it can also stifle new voices and resist change. Strong cultures can lock in sameness by rewarding those who perpetuate values and practices that reinforce unconscious bias. People of color are often victims of distinct cultures, and can be easily labeled as a “bad cultural fit.”

I often hear the question, “who is getting it right?” The truth is, although most large companies have DEI plans and departments, very few have succeeded in eliminating systemic bias. The issue often lies in the leadership’s reluctance to admit it exists. This in turn is likely fueled by concerns that admission will court legal challenges. Yet, until organizations confront the biases embedded in their culture and practices, systemic bias will continue to slow, if not limit, their progress towards equity and inclusion.

Making progress with DEI demands an honest, often painful, examination of how an organization might unintentionally hinder diverse employees from achieving recognition and rewards that are commensurate with their performance. The first step is to engage in conversations with employees who might be at risk for organizational bias.

It’s important to listen with both curiosity and empathy. These employees can offer insights into where these biases might manifest and how they can be addressed. The next crucial step is for leaders to recognize the difference—potentially dramatic—between their experience of the workplace and that of employees of color. If they give in to the impulse to either question or challenge that difference, they will squander the chance to make the changes that lead to equity and inclusion.

Addressing the issues of DEI is less about having a plan, and more about genuine action with an eye towards retaining and setting diverse employees on a path to leadership.